When planning for the articles to be included as part of your threaded publication, you may wish to report on a core component of your research in an article published in an external journal. We understand that you may wish to target a particular audience for your research, and it is important that there is not unnecessary duplication in your publications.

Should you wish to submit a core component to an external journal, this needs to be included as part of your publication plan. You should follow the guidance on publishing in third-party journals and keep your Journals Library contact notified of submission status.

Recognising that response times can vary for different journals, you should submit your paper as soon as possible so that it can be cited in your synopsis and other articles where applicable. All articles agreed as part of your publication plan must be submitted. We also understand that well-regarded journals can have high rejection rates and you may wish to submit to more than one journal. However, please note that should this begin to significantly delay publication of your synopsis it might be suggested that this article is published in the Journals Library instead. 

If at the time you submit your synopsis any core articles submitted to external journals have not yet been published, you must provide a copy of the submitted or accepted versions along with the synopsis. These submissions are not for consideration or review by the NIHR Journals Library but are solely to assist the Editors in assessing the synopsis and assuring full transparent reporting of your award.

Your published external article will be incorporated in the thread through individual web pages on the Journals Library website that link out to the external articles. These will also be included in the final issue of the journal alongside all of your published articles and synopsis.

If any external articles require post-publication correction, authors must ensure that they inform the relevant journal it has been published in to arrange for the correction to be made. You should then notify the Journals Library to ensure that the information we are providing about the article is correct, as well as confirming if any corrections are required to articles in the thread published in the Journals Library.